Okesene said fisheries is embedded into the livelihoods of the local people. (file image) Photo: RNZ
The fisheries director in Niue is optimistic the sustainable management guidelines of the Niue Ocean Wide Trust (NOW) will greatly benefit the fishing sector.
Niue's entire Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) is a multiple use marine park, with 40 percent of the space deemed a 'no take' protected area.
The Marine Protected Area (Niue Moana Mahu) covers 127,000 square kilometres, about half the size of New Zealand.
Poi Okesene told RNZ Pacific this should boost fish numbers in their waters.
"Hopefully, some of the sustainable conservation development methods under the NOW project will also contribute to having more fish species within our waters, even though it's very challenging, because of the highly migratory fish species, they move around," he said.
Okesene said Niue will keep an open mind to allowing foreign fishing vessels into their waters.
The government has considered issuing licenses to boost economic development and expand the commercial fishing industry, he said.
There are no licensed foreign fishing vessels in Niue currently.
"So we have explored that opportunity in the past. We will continue to look at it as long as we have sustainable measures in place to be able to address foreign fishing vessels.
"There are conditions for them to fish in our waters as well."
A significant portion of the population are involved in the fishing sector.
Okesene said fisheries is embedded into the livelihoods of the community.
"The fisheries sector is very important to Niue, about 30 percent of the people fish, but I believe there's more people at the national level who also fish sustainably for their own home consumption."
